INTERMEDIATE BUILD
While Hasegawa’s re-boxings are often available for just a short time, the firm’s J 35 Draken is a superb offering, as Niklas Knutzén discovered while building Sweden’s ‘mighty dragon’
SAAB’s striking cranked-delta J 35 Draken first took to the skies in October 1955, with deliveries to the Swedish Air Force commencing in March 1960.
Designed as a high-speed, high-altitude interceptor, the Draken was adapted to serve as a two-seat trainer aircraft, with later photo-reconnaissance variants as the S 35E/RF-35 in the Swedish and Danish Air Forces respectively. More than 600 airframes were built, with some exported to Austria, Denmark and Finland, while ex-Danish aircraft have also been operated in the aggressor role by civilian firms in the US.
Hasegawa first released its 1/72 Draken in 1994 and it has since been re-issued on multiple occasions, with both real-world and sci-fi schemes; this boxing is a repeat of the original offering, with 82 parts presented on three styrene runners. All items are moulded crisply, with fine recessed surface detail, while the transparent parts are crystal clear with little or no distortion. As usual with Hasegawa kits, there are no weapons included (although they are available sep…
